IT'S GAME DAY

Booneville and Charleston are meeting for the third time in a two-year span for the second time in a decade.

How rare is that? Between 1998 and the first 2014 meeting, there were no games that figured into a win-loss tally between the schools located all of 16 miles apart.

That isn’t to say there has not long been familiarity between the two programs. In many of those years in which there was no regular season game the schools took on one another in a preseason scrimmage, doing so as recently as 2020.

This year both the Bearcats and Tigers wandered through a treacherous nonconference schedule that left one at, and the other just a game away from having the worst record in the 3A-1. Since then, both have toppled four league schools and share the top spot in the standings that matter.

The 2022 games decided first the conference title, then seven weeks later, a state title and Friday’s game at Alumni Field is likely the game that will determine who has the top seed in the league and the first wo playoff games at home and who can take the two seed and, again, likely have two home playoff games.

• Mascots: Booneville Bearcats; Charleston Tigers
• When: 7 PM, October 20, at Alumni Field in Charleston
• Series: Booneville leads 48-14-2 (0.766)
• Last Meeting: Charleston 41 Bearcats 12 on December 10, 2022
• Streak: Charleston has won last 2
• First Meeting: Charleston 39 Bearcats 0 on October 15, 1920
• Conference Affiliations: Both are 3A-1

TODAY IN BEARCAT FOOTBALL HISTORY: The Bearcats are 7-3-2 all time in games documented to have been played on October 20. On October 20, 1961 Dean Dickens returned an interception 71 yards for a touchdown in a 54-19 win over Alma. In that game Larry Waganer became the just the second Bearcat to score five touchdowns, doing so on runs of 13, 13, 24, 43, and 47 – and with the extra point he scored, he set a scoring record of 31 points that lasted until 1995. He ran a total of 14 times for 199 yards that day.

Returns are also a big thing on October 20. On October 20, 2017 Ethan Dobbs returned a kickoff 96 yards for a touchdown in a 21-20 win over Dardanelle; on October 20, 1939 Hobert Earl Partain returned a kickoff 85 yards for a touchdown in a 13-13 tie with Danville; and on October 20, 2000 Will Swint returned a punt 69 yards for a touchdown in a 28-6 win over Dardanelle.

NOTES: Dax Goff becomes the career rushing leader for Booneville High School with 54 yards. Last week’s 206 yards on 24 carries pushed him past Allen Ray with only Randon Ray in front of him. For the first time this season the Bearcats were perfect on extra points last week as Juan Moreno was 6-for-6, bringing his season total to 22-of-29. Friday’s game is the fifth road game of 2023 for the Bearcats, meaning that, including the 2022 state championship game, this will be nine road trips (although one game was not actually played) to four home games since a loss to Charleston this time last year.